On the surface, The Bahamas is a young, progressive and wealthy country, as it approaches its 50th Independence Anniversary from Great Britain. As an early beneficiary of mass tourism, its economy grew steadily from the 1950’s. However, over the past five decades, the rise of regional competition, the pace of globalisation and more recently, the onset of the Knowledge Economy and emergence of the 4th Industrial Revolution, have conspired to expose the consequences of our misguided actions and inaction. These consequences have frustrated development and manifested as serious challenges which this book has captured and presented as 12 Ugly Giant Evils. These evils can be categorised as outcomes associated with or emanating from three broad areas:
- Political Leadership, which has led to a feeling of no national direction, continuing multi-level dependence and mismanagement of scarce resources.
- Self-inflicted/Individual Choices, which have resulted in an unhealthy and unhappy nation, underpinned by immoral choices at all levels of society.
- Natural Events, which are outwith our control but for which we could better plan and respond to after their unwelcome visits.
This book has been years in the writing and has made a concerted effort to capture the key issues facing us, supported with the most current data. The resulting Ugly Giant Evils may alternately surprise, anger or even shock you, but hopefully, they will make you think more deeply about why our beautiful little country is struggling and why it urgently needs our help. You will get:
- Comprehensive coverage of all issues, from governance to ill-health to how we behave as individuals.
- Unique analyses from a different perspective that give a sense of the breadth and urgency of issues.
- Up-to-date statistics on more than 40 metrics to provide a level of objectivity.
- Comments from an eminent former official, who has held various posts over the years.
All this in a first-of-a-kind book that focuses on “problem definition” as a necessary prelude to development, as opposed to going straight to solutions: “we should do this” or “we should do that”. The book is available now from Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/dp/148190793X
Happy Reading
Selwyn S. Seymour
